You searched for: “cardinals
cardinal (s) (noun), cardinals (pl)
1. In the Roman Catholic Church, one of the group of clergy, next in rank to the pope: The cardinals elect a pope from their own group and act as his advisers.
2. A synod of leading dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church: Cardinals are nominated by the pope and they form the Sacred College, which elects succeeding popes.
3. A crested finch, the male of which has bright red plumage with a black face; native to, North America: The bird's Latin name is "Cardinalis cardinals" and is generally known as a cardinal.
4. A woman's short cape with a hood: The cardinal cape was originally scarlet in color and was worn in the 17th and 18th centuries.
5. Etymology: from about 1125, "one of the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the sacred college" of the Catholic Church; from Latin cardinalis, "principal, chief, essential"; from cardo, cardinis, "that on which something turns or depends"; originally "door hinge".

Ecclesiastical usage began for the presbyters of the chief, or cardinal, churches of Rome.

This entry is located in the following unit: cardin- (page 1)
(Latin numbers as cardinals, "quantities"; and as ordinals, "showing order" or "designating a place in an ordered sequence")